There is no record that any church building existed in the earliest days of Providence. Poverty may have been one reason for this lack. Meetings were held in different homes, however, and as Roger Williams was the only ordained minister, he conducted the services. There was no persecution for non-attendance—of that we may be sure. Among the people who came to Providence because they could not enjoy their religion unmolested elsewhere, were the Anabaptists or Baptists, as their name was shortened in later years. Their views were much more liberal and attractive than strict Puritanism and therefore interested Roger Williams. He allowed one of their number, Ezekiel Holliman, to baptize him in the new faith and he then baptized Holliman and several others. For this public profession, Roger Williams and his wife were excommunicated from the Salem church. He is generally regarded as the first pastor of the Baptist Church, but he was not actively connected with it for more than a few months. No doctrine of the day could quite satisfy a man of his open mind and earnest determination to search for the truth. He became what was then known as a “seeker.”
The Baptists, however, continued to prosper and increase in numbers. They still claim Roger Williams as the founder of the First Baptist Church of America. The ancient meeting-house bearing that name (though it is not the original edifice of the society) has a bell with a quaint inscription which proclaims to the world the principles upon which both the city and the Baptist congregation were founded:
“For freedom of conscience the town was first planted,
Persuasion, not force, was used by the people;
This church is the eldest and has not recanted,
Enjoying and granting bell, temple, and steeple.”
The First Baptist Church of Providence is a dignified and venerable white structure on North Main Street, the “Town Street” of Roger Williams’ day. It is modeled after St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, London. Its bell still rings the curfew at nine o’clock each evening.
The First Baptist Society, the first in America, was founded in 1638, and met either in the open air or at the homes of its members during the first sixty-two years of its existence. Roger Williams is generally considered the first pastor of the church.
To rightly understand the last line, we must know that in England in the seventeenth century those worshippers who had separated from the established church had neither bell, temple nor steeple. This is only another instance of the liberal spirit of the early inhabitants of Providence.
CHAPTER VII
THE INDIAN KEY
As we have seen, the Indians had much to do with Roger Williams’ history from the very beginning of his life in the New World. He had lodged with them, befriended them, studied their language, traded with them, and had been their interpreter. All this was of benefit to both natives and colonists.
In 1643, another opportunity came for Roger Williams to be of still further service to his countrymen and their red neighbors. An important mission (about which we will speak later) took him to England that year and he made the most of the leisure afforded by the long sea voyage to put into book form what he had learned about the Indian language and customs. “I drew the materials,” he explained, “in a rude lump at sea, that I might not lightly lose what I had so dearly bought in some few years’ hardship.”